10 YEARS AGO

GREEN LIGHT: Plans for a £25 million hospital in Prudhoe for mentally ill young people won the backing of Tynedale councillors, with 190 new jobs set to be created.

CHEAP FIX: In celebration of its 35 years of service to the district, Tynedale Council charged residents just 35p for many of its services, such as swimming and tea at Wentworth Leisure Centre and Prudhoe Waterworld. Tynedale Council was to cease operating on March 31.

PETITION LAUNCHED: Kath and Steve Barret launched a petition to improve road safety measures outside Hexham’s QEHS after their son, Jake, was knocked down outside the school.

BREWERY BONUS: Hexham’s Waitrose began stocking beers from Wylam Brewery, including Wylam Northern Kite and the award-winning Wylam Rocket.

25 YEARS AGO

TOP DOG: Matfen resident Anne Maughan’s dog was at home recovering from a week of media attention after winning “Best in Show” at Crufts. Buttons, a four-year-old Welsh Terrier, had been on both This Morning and Blue Peter.

BY GEORGE: A bright red neon sign at the George Hotel in Chollerford was proving to be an eyesore to local residents, with Humshaugh parish councillors saying it was so bright you couldn’t make out individual letters.

CUT ABOVE: Hairdressers Beverley Sanderson and Dawn Gray headed out to Germany to represent England in an international young hairdressers competition in Darmstadt.

50 YEARS AGO

SNOW TRAP: In blizzard conditions, roads to the north and south of Otterburn were blocked by more than 100 vehicles, including a service bus. Passengers were accommodated in two hotels, the village hall, and the homes of some villages.

SCHOOL BATTLE: The people of Great Whittington were fighting to save their seven-pupil infants’ school, threatened with closure because the county council didn’t want to replace its outgoing teacher.

DRINK UP: An experimental fitter from West Woodburn, Mr Clifford Hudson, invented an adjustable bottle opener for his wife, Norma.

75 YEARS AGO

CHURCH DEFILED: Three young people from Coanwood were charged with sacrilege after harvest festival money was stolen at East Coanwood Methodist Chapel.

HELD UP: A Chinese guest speaker, Miss Lai Po Kan, told Hexham Rotarians how she had waited two years for a bus making a 600 mile journey to Chungking.

SOMETHING FISHY: While the Tyne had its best salmon season since 1936, only one salmon was taken from the river in Corbridge in 1943.

100 YEARS AGO

TOMMIES’ TREAT: Red, white, and blue tablecloths were laid out for more than 100 discharged and demobilised soldiers, joined by their wives and girlfriends at Haydon Bridge.

CHILD MOLESTER: A Mickley miner was sentenced to six months hard labour for indecently assaulting a ten-year-old girl. The victim and a 12-year-old friend gave evidence in court.

HEXHAM GALA?: Miners’ officials were voting on whether to hold a gala at Hexham, the usual venues in Northumberland being Tynemouth or Morpeth.

125 YEARS AGO

CROSS IT: “Can football players be Christians?” asked a Courant correspondent – before deciding the answer was yes. During months of argument in the paper, players had been accused of being too exhausted to attend church on Sundays, of trying to disable opponents, and of making pubs their headquarters.

DOCTORING EVIDENCE: Servants at a doctor’s house in Hexham thought a thief who entered in the early hours, stole £3 in gold and helped himself to food, was the doctor himself being called out.

CRACKED IT: A Mickley footballer fractured his collarbone in a collision with another player – the first broken bone in the club’s history.

STIFF REFUSAL: Plans were afoot to make the workhouse master turn away dead bodies brought to him to await a coroner, effectively depriving the town of a mortuary.

150 YEARS AGO

TEETOTAL IRISH: The Rev. J. Cooke, Catholic priest of Hexham, congratulated the Irish portion of his flock on the becoming manner they had conducted themselves the previous year on St. Patrick’s Day, after they abstained from drinking. He trusted they would, on the upcoming St Patrick’s Day, “neither touch, taste, nor handle the intoxicating cup.”

WOMAN’S RIGHTS: A young woman was to visit the North to advocate the rights of women. A Courant correspondent wrote: “I trust she will visit Hexham, where she would doubtless be well received. Her assertion that woman are as capable as men would receive strong confirmation from the fact that Hexham could once boast of a female letter carrier.”